


New Perspective

by laurenwritesfanfic



Category: Phan, Phandom, dan and phil, dan howell / phil lester
Genre: 2015x2009, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phandom - Freeform, phanfic, punkXpastel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 11:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5868442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenwritesfanfic/pseuds/laurenwritesfanfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Stop there and let me correct it<br/>I wanna live a life from a new perspective”</p>
<p>Description: 2009!Phan end up in 2015 with 2015!Punk!Pastel!Phan- four days of weird, sexual tension and multiple awkward conversations all while it furiously snows, much to the hobbit head Dan’s dismays.</p>
<p>Word count: 4.7k</p>
<p>Genre: Honestly I don’t know what to put here so it’s a little bit of everything.</p>
<p>Tags: PunkXPastel, 2009X2015Phan</p>
<p>Warnings: swearing, fighting, tattoos? anxious Dan- kind of emotionally insecure, etc etc…</p>
<p>For a friend on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One

-Day One.-

To be honest, Dan and Phil’s apartment can be hectic at times, in looks and in people. It was a messy, unorganised clash of geeky games, punk rock and pastel cushions. Take the office, for example. A matte-black Macbook sits side by side with one encased in a pastel pink jelly cover. Two of the four walls are littered with band posters and concert tickets, the other pictures clearly printed off tumblr and outlined in fairy lights. There were enough differences in the apartment alone, let alone the people. You could say that the apartment was a representation of both Dan and Phil pushed into a few small rooms, and it became clear who owned what by one glance at the pair. Dan in his pale pink jumpers and white jeans, always with a flower crown to match the tone of this outfit, sits in an odd harmony with Phil- the heavily tattooed, dressed all in black, muscled, scary, overprotective boyfriend. Yin and yang, Dan and Phil.

So imagine, taking Dan and Phil and adding another slightly younger, more insecure version of the pair. And imagine the awkward conversations and deep heart to hearts and slightly raised sexual tension- because you know, 2009 Phil was the Phil Dan fell in love with- and then read on, because that’s exactly what about to happen.

—-

Creak. Thump. Creak.

Phil lay with his arm draped over his boyfriend, frozen as he listened to the sounds coming from the living room of their flat.

Shuffle. Thump. Creak.

He definitely wasn’t imagining it, although Phil couldn’t understand why someone would break into an apartment three floors off the ground. It’s not exactly easy or subtle.

Bang!

Phil shot up out of bed, grabbing the handle of the door and sneaking into the hallway as quietly as he could. Dan lay sleeping in his bed, a small smile on his face, unaware of what was currently going on around him.

As he crept towards the door, Phil could hear muffled voices from the living room although he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. As far as he could tell there were only two people in the living room-which happened to have a light turned on, what kind of thieves turn on the lights?- which Phil was pretty sure he could handle. So with that thought in mind, he swung open the door and slowly crept into the room.

There were two people in the room, both with their backs to him. They were quite tall, maybe three or four inches shorter than Phil himself, and quite lanky, not much muscle between them. One was wearing a black and white checked shirt and the other an oversized pale green jumper. Phil smirked. He was sure this was going to go his way. The one in the green glanced backwards, noticing Phil and gasping while pushing the other boy around. Phil didn’t stop to pay attention to their faces, nor look closer at the familiar fringe and eyes of the two of them, and maybe if he had then things would be gone a lot smoother, but he didn’t, so it wasn’t until the black haired man was on the floor, with a couple of well-done punches and the brown haired boy was screaming at him to stop and his Dan has woke up and pulled him off that he properly looked them in the eye.

And then it clicked. Those brown eyes were familiar, because they belonged to the face of the boy he fell in love with. And the guy lying on the floor? It was him, before he realised he looked better in black with tattoos than just whatever his mum bought him. This couldn’t be real. He was standing in front of himself, at six in the morning, with his boyfriend and his boyfriends double.

“I am definitely not awake enough for this.” He said, before sitting down and running his hands over his face. He looked up at the two men in front of him- him and Dan, or Dan and Phil but not his Dan, because his Dan was sitting beside him in almost as much shock as him- and saw they looked more confused than he and his Dan was. Why would they be confused? They came to us! He thought. They must know why they’re here.

Dan must’ve been thinking along the same lines as him, but Dan was most definitely quicker, because while phil was still staring at the younger versions of them (who had retreated to the other couch while Dan and Phil stared at them), Dan turned to him and said “Phil? I don’t think they know who we are.”

Phil broke away from his staring to look at Dan “you think? They came here, they must know something”

“I know, but think about it. If this isn’t some trippy dream, then we would recognise them first, because we’ve been them, whereas-”

“-whereas we are the future them” Phil finished, catching onto Dan’s thinking. “They wouldn’t recognise is because they’ve never met us” Dan nodded.

“Holy shit”

“Yup” Phil looked at Dan.

“Yup? Is that all you could come up with?”

“It’s better than swearing!” Dan said defensively.

“Um, hello? Can someone please explain what’s going on here?” Dan -younger Dan- interrupted, before the older couple could have a domestic.

Older Phil shared a look with Dan, before turning to the younger two.

“Honestly? I don’t know how to explain this without sounding crazy.” He said. May aswell start off honest.

“We can handle it.” Younger Phil spoke up, glaring at Phil with a scathing look. Phil returned the look before rolling his eyes and continuing.

“Anyway, we think-” he broke off “actually we know, because we’ve been you, but it doesn’t make much sense, but we think-”

“Get on with it!” The younger Dan exclaimed. Older Dan gave his past self a dirty look before continuing on Phil’s sentence for him, knowing fine well that it would be curse word that came out Phils mouth rather than an explanation.

“I’m Dan. This is Phil. We are the future versions of you.”

Silence. A dead silence rang through the apartment. Phil chuckled,it started slowly, getting increasingly louder, until it was a full blown, booming laugh. Shaking the atmosphere into an indescribable mixture of disbelief and anger.

“You don’t expect us to believe that!” Phil stood up, “this is some fucking joke!”

“Phil, calm down-” Dan said.

“NO!” He interrupted. Phil stormed over to the older Dan, pushing him against the wall. “STOP FUCKING LYING!” He shouted in Dan’s face. Before anything else could happen, Phil was between them, pinning his younger self against the fireplace.

“If you touch Dan again I swear to god I’ll kill you” Phil spat.

“STOP!” The Dan’s shouted. Everyone froze. They looked at each other.

“You-” Dan said. “You’re me?”

“I’m you.” He confirmed. Phil was now intensely staring at the man that had him pinned against the wall. He could be me, he thought, if you look past the tattoos and the clothes.

“You’re me? You’re Phil too?” He said.

“Yeah” he let go of Phil, backing off to stand with Dan.

“Holy shit”

“Yup”

—

It was now half eight, and the tense atmosphere had somewhat faded, if you ignore the occasionally dirty looks between the Phils. Although, the atmosphere was replaced with a lot of confusing conversations that nobody really understood. They all mainly consisted of trying to work out how the younger ones got here and more importantly, how to send them back. This was what you could call a problem.

A more immediate problem, and one that was meant to be more solvable was names. It became evident that having two Phils and two Dan’s was going to cause a conversational barrier, so the group decided to call themselves ‘old Phil’ and ‘old Dan’. This should’ve been the easy part of their dilemma, except who actually was old Phan? Sure, 2015 Dan and Phil were older, but 2009 Dan and Phil were old in the sense that they’re from the past. It was decided (by another unnecessary display of masculinity by the Phils) that ‘old phan’ would be the older boys, 2015 Phan.

Somewhere between the displays of masculinity and the pointless debates about why they were here, old Dan decided he wanted coffee, hence why the four of them are sitting in awkward silence in Starbucks, waiting on their coffees to cool. It had snowed heavily the whole walk to the coffee shop, making both of the Dan’s head curl up on their heads, something both the Phils found very attractive. That would explain why young Phil was staring at old dan, much to Phil’s annoyance. It wasn’t like he was a problem, he was two years younger than Dan alone, plus it was technically him, but it made him uncomfortable to see someone focus on Dan so much.

“So..” Young Phil said.

“So?” Dan said.

“You’re wearing rings. Should I assume you- I mean we- are still together?”

Dan blushed, twining his hands with Phils. “Engaged, actually. Our weddings in January.”

“Good. I’m glad I’m still going to be fucking you when I’m old like that one” he said, smirking while jerking his thumb towards old Phil-who coincidently looked like he was going to murder his younger self.

“Watch your mouth” he said, while throwing his arm over Dan and pulling him closer.

“Calm down grandpa, it’s a bit of harmless fun” Phil smirked.

“Harmless fun? You know what else is harmless fun? Ripping your kidneys out of your-”

“-Phil!” Dan said sharply, squeezing his hand. “Calm down right now.”

Phil sighed, Dan knew he couldnt help it. At the start of their relationship it had been a major problem, Dan and Phil would go anywhere- a party, out with friends, a meal, work, and someone other than Phil would acknowledge Dan existence and Phil would go all alpha male over him. Dan didn’t mind it so much now, it had calmed down a lot over the years (mainly due to a mutual trust in the other and whatnot) and to be perfectly honest? A jealous Phil was a very hot Phil.

Everyone was silent, running out of the small talk that Phil, Phil and old Dan were providing. Little Dan, though, didn’t seem to talk much- preferring to listen to the conversation and stare. Specifically at the older version of himself. The built, happy, confident version of himself who openly kissed his boyfriend in public and cracked jokes that were actually funny. The version of himself that dated the intimidatingly hot version of Phil, so hot Dan struggled to speak to him properly, one of the main reasons he was being quiet.

Little Phil could tell that Dan felt awkward around these people, even though the strangers were technically them. Dan always did badly around new people and he hated showing off a relationship, which is why he was leaning as far away from Phil as possible, trying to make it seem like they were just friends.

“Anyway” Dan said “it’s getting late, we should go home and eat”

“Pizza?” Phil asked the group, a chorus of agreements rang out before they binned their coffee cups and headed home.

—

The pizza took what felt like hours to get to their house, while they waited for it the couples split off into respective rooms to get a few minutes of privacy from the other.

“Today’s been absolutely crazy” Dan said.

“I know, it’s like a bad dream” Phil sighed and pulled Dan closer to him, resting his cheek on Dan head.

“Phil what if we can’t send them back? What’ll happen then?”

“Honestly? I don’t know, but right now we just need to stick this out and hope for the best. Okay?”

“Okay.” Phil kissed the top of Dan’s head before snuggling into Dan. It was silent in their room, peaceful. So peaceful the two had drifted off way before pizza was here and we’re woken up by the other two, who were laughing at them.

The couples walked through the o the living room to eat while watching American horror story. Old Dan thought it was funny to put on season two, as it hasn’t came out yet in 2009, much to little Dan’s disappointment.

After a few episodes the boys headed to their respective rooms (the little couple in Dan’s room and the old couple in Phils) so they could sleep and hope to god that today was some weird extended dream that they could wake up from. Well, that’s what Dan thought anyway. Phil had other ideas about what was going to happen.

And a very jealous Phil got his way, much to the disappointment of the younger couple, who really only wanted to sleep.


	2. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day twooooo! Thanks for reading x

Day Two

As per usual, Dan didn’t wake up until the back of ten o'clock, while the younger couple and Phil had been up since eight in the morning. By the time Dan decided to move from his bed, Phil was in the shower, getting dressed and ready for work. The younger Dan and Phil were sitting in the living room, cuddling and watching tv. Dan rolled out of bed, chucking on one of Phil’s jumpers and a pair of black boxers. He stumbled into the living room, throwing himself down in the armchair and yawning.

“Morning future version of myself, had fun last night?” Little Dan smirked while Phil laughed.

“Mmh, yeah I guess” Dan said, still too tired to click on Dan’s words. It didn’t take long before Dan caught a glance at himself in the mirror and finally understood what the younger two were finding so funny. Apart from the fact he came through in all Phil’s clothes, the obvious sex hair and multiple hickeys, well, everywhere were a definite indication of what went on last night.

Dan groaned, remembering everything that happened last night. He blushed, a thought popping into his head that neither him nor Phil had considered.

“Did- did you guys…”

“Hear you?” Phil asked.

“Yup” Dan said, popping the p.

“All night”

“Very clearly”

“Extremely loudly”

“Really though you guys were like hyenas-”

“Okay!” Dan said, “that’s enough of that!” Dan’s had gone crimson while the boys burst out laughing, obviously finding his embarrassment funny.

At that moment, Phil walked in dressed in band merch and ripped black jeans, smirking when he saw Dan in the armchair.

“Morning guys” he greeted, walking over to Dan, “morning Hun” he smirked, giving Dan a kiss. “Feeling alright?”

“Something like that” Dan said while everyone else laughed.

“Well you stay home and sleep today, I’ve got some work to do at the office, I’ll be home as soon as I can”

“Wait!” Dan said before running through to their bedroom. The three left behind barely got a chance to look confused before Dan came running back through, holding a pastel pink flower crown and putting it on Phil’s head. It definitely didn’t go with Phil’s image- the leather jacket, black t-shirt, black jeans and doc martins, but the cute way Dan put it on his head and the smile that made his dimple pop out made Phil keep it on and kiss him goodbye. The younger couple smiled, watching the sweet scene in front of them. Phil said goodbye to the rest of them and left, locking up the house behind him.

Dan looked at the others. “So.. What now?”

—

“Wait! No! Come on!”

“MOVE OUT THE WAY MOTHERFUCKERS LITTLE DAN’S GONNA WIN”

“Shit!”

“-no!”

“Fuck off!”

It was half five at night, and Dan, Phil and Dan had cracked out the Ribena and Mario kart. Phil had given up a long time ago, realising that Dan and Dan were far too competitive and he would most likely get hurt if he continued to play.

Phil was due back any time now, so maybe he would be able to get the Dan’s to stop trying to kill each other over first place on road harbour. The two of them had been at it for hours, constantly screaming at each other and shouting ‘best of three’ whenever they lost a match.

Phil actually didn’t mind sitting back and watching this time, it wa shove to see his Dan act the way he acts around Phil with other people. Maybe this trip would be good for him, maybe seeing himself in the future, happy, confident and doing something worthwhile with his life might make him feel better.

Phil heard the door downstairs open and went to meet himself? At the door. As he walked down the stairs Phil had his back to him, leather jacket, flower crown and all. He looked good, really hot actually. That made younger Phil happy. Wait, he thought. That’s really weird I’m checking myself out. He shook his head.

“Hey” old Phil said. “I brought coffee”

“Hey, if you want to live, I’d avoid the living room.”

Phil frowned “any reason why?”

“Mario kart. Ribena. Two Dan’s.”

“Right.” The Phils laughed. The atmosphere was still tense between them, since the first night and the jealousy at Starbucks.

“Listen, Phil-” the younger one started.

“You don’t need this say anything.” Phil said. “It’s alright.”

“It is?”

“Yeah” Phil laughed “we both acted stupid and overprotective. This is weird enough without holding a grudge against the past version of myself”

“I agree” Phil said “it’s just weird, y’know? Seeing you all confident and happy and settled.” he scratched the back of his neck “you have it all, everything I’ve ever wanted, you have a happy Dan, a good job, an amazing home and life… I guess I’m scared it’s not going to work out like that for me.”

“Phil, I think you’re forgetting that me and you are literally the same person”

“I know, but what if I make the wrong choices?”

“You won’t. I didn’t and I’m you”

Phil sighed, “I guess”

“Hey, tomorrow, me and you go out for a drink, leave the Dan’s to do their own thing.” Phil said. “We need to talk”

“Okay”

The two headed up the stairs to their boyfriends, who were still screaming at each other over the game. It was a crazy life they had, but I doubt they’d change it for anything.

—–


	3. Day Three

Day Three

Three days in and the boys were getting used to being around each other. The weird atmospheres had all but gone and to be honest? They were starting to enjoy each other’s company. Phil always had someone else who was rational and Dan had someone to convince him to do whatever Phil needed to talk him out of.

Today the pairs were going to split into namesakes, Dan and Dan are going to do Christmas shopping, as both of them had left it to practically the last minute-christmas being in three days.

The snow had got heavy overnight, covering London in a thick blanket of snow.

“Dan?” Little Dan came through the to the bathroom while Dan was straightening his hair. The Phils had left for their day out a while ago, though only old Phil knew what they were doing.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Can I- can I borrow your straighteners after you? Because it’s snowing and I hate my hair and I don’t want people to see me with Tim hair like this and I know it’s stupid and pointless and-” Dan started, gasping for breath.

“Hey hey hey, calm down” Dan hushed him “ it’s fine I understand! I’m the same” Dan hugged the younger version of himself, remembering how it felt to have panic attacks more times in a day than he spoke.

“Listen here, okay? We’ll go do the Christmas shopping, then when we come back I’ll teach you how to deal with panic attacks, okay? God know I’ve had enough of them myself”

Dan nodded

Dan handed him the straighteners. “Here you go, I’ll be in the living room.” Dan turned to leave.

“Dan?”

“Yeah?” Dan hugged him.

“Thank you”

—

“Phil! Where are we going?!” Phil said as they boarded the subway “I kind of need to know!”

Phil smirked, “well, first of all we are going to a parlour to get me a tattoo, then to the pub, because I can’t be bothered doing Christmas shopping”

“You’re getting a tattoo?”

“Yup” he said, popping the p. “And you’re going to watch, and maybe get one if you feel like it”

Phils eyes went wide “you want me to get a tattoo?”

“Well, you’re me and I have loads, and I love getting them, so you need to try it out and see if you like it too” Phil said.

“Oh, okay I guess”

As they walked to the tattoo parlour, Phil explained that this was where he got his first tattoo done, and every tattoo since then. It was a small building, painted black and white with an expensive looking layout. The style of the shop matched perfectly with the tattoo artist inside.

“Hey Phil! How’ve you been?” The woman was very pretty, with long brown hair and big eyes.

“Kal! I’ve been great! How’s business?”

“Business is good!” She said while smiling, turning towards Phil. “Who’s this?”

“This is my… Cousin! His name’s Phil too” little Phil smiled awkwardly at Phil’s lie, he could’ve changed the name at least.

“Awh! I can see the family resemblance, he looks like you when you got your first tattoo!”

Phil laughed “Anyway, you ready for me? I was thinking of surprising Dan with this for Christmas, as he loves it when I get new tattoos”

“That’s a great idea! What were you thinking of?” Kal asked.

“I was thinking of getting a black Raven and a white dove with the Raven flying above it and Roman numerals below.”

“That’s..specific” they all laughed “but I know the photo you’ve based it off of. What numerals?”

“2009” the Phils smiled, thinking of the times they’ve shared together. Their lives could be a lot worse, and they’re happy. Phil decided on that snowy day, that he would appreciate his life a lot more.

“So!” Kal said, “let’s get started”

—

Christians shopping with the Dan’s went exactly as expected. They got in town. They got Starbucks. They got cold. They went home. No Christmas shopping was done at all  
and both of their head had gone into curly mops. To say the day didn’t go to plan was an understatement.

“Dan? Can you maybe tell me a bit about our lives?” The younger Dan asked while making hot chocolate.

“Yeah, what do you want to know?”

“How do you do it?”

Dan furrowed his brow. “Do what?”

“Be yourself. Be the person you want to be all the time regardless of who’s there.” Dan stopped. He had it all, didn’t he? Everything he ever wanted, and he hadn’t even noticed. Huh. He was happy.

“Honestly? I don’t know what to say. I spent my whole life scared and sad, worrying about how my life was going to work out. But all those years I spent worrying were my years. I wasted them thinking about all the bad things that could possibly happen. I have everything I could have ever wanted, I have an amazing job, I have fans, a book, a tour… I have Phil? My whole life worked out and I didn’t even notice. You’re going to go through a lot worse than you are now, Dan, I’m not going to lie. You’re going to hurt yourself and Phil and you’re going to spend a lot of time paying for that. But it’s gets better, it gets amazing actually. I spent so many years alone and with no one and so close to committing, but I didn’t and honestly? I wouldn’t change any of it, because one difference could change how my whole life planned out and I don’t want to change a thing, not one. You just need to get through these next few years, kid, and then you have it all.”

—

The tattoo went well, Kal as usual did an amazing job, which awed Phil in its beauty. Old Phil was over the moon, knowing that Dan will love it.

Right now the Phils were at the bar, having a beer.

“Phil, I need to tell you something- it’s important” old Phil said.

“What’s up?” Phil put his drink down, watching the older version of himself carefully.

“You need to know this. It’s probably going to hurt, well it most definitely will. You need warning though, you can’t give up.”

“Give up on what?”

“Dan.” Phil took a deep breath. “In 2012, Dan’s going to hurt you, a lot and badly. His channel will grow and he’ll act like he doesn’t care about you. You’ll argues and fight and scream at each other until your throats are read and scratched. You need to know it ends and that it’s all worth it. You need to know he doesn’t mean any of its You need to know that’s he’s just scared. He loves you. He loves you and he’s so scared to loose you that that he’ll be the one to push you away. But you can’t go, okay? No matter what he says. Promise me you won’t go?”

Phil blinked, trying to stop the tears in his eyes from leaking out. “I promise. I won’t leave him.”

Phil sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Good, let’s go home.”

—


	4. Day Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading guys x

Day four.

Today felt different. The snow stopped, the house was quiet, and everyone was awake by half seven in the morning.

The older couple were sitting in the living room in silence, the tension thick through the air.

“You can feel it too?” The younger couple asked as they came it it the living room “today’s different.”

“Yeah” Dan said “I think this might be it”

Older Dan was actually feeling sad about this. The past few days had been an emotional rollercoaster, it had been tense and angry and sad and funny and weird, definitely weird. But Dan really didn’t want it to end. Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, he wasn’t alone on this.

“Should we say our goodbyes now?” The boys looked at each other before nodding at Phil.

Dan walked over to the older version of himself, throwing his arms around him. “Thank you for all this” he whispered.

“You’re welcome, I’m going to miss you”

“I’ll miss you too” Dan sniffed.

“Hey Phil! Come here!” Old Phil shouted, the two do them laughing as they hugged.

“Remember your promise.”

“I will” Phil clapped him on the back before walking over to the younger Dan.

“Have a nice life, Dan, that Phil guy isn’t too bad” they laughed as they hugged.

“Hey there Phil” Dan said

“Hey old Dan” they laughed. “ I’m going to miss this” he said as they hugged.

“Me too”

They all laughed. As if whatever had sent them here had waited for them to finish their goodbyes, a white light shine through the room, surrounding the younger couple. When the light fades away, the younger ones were gone, and the world of Dan and Phil back to normal.

“Merry Christmas, Dan”

“Merry Christmas, Phil”

[END]


End file.
